Merrill man who drowned while saving son considered a hero

Published
5:06 pm EST, Saturday, February 2, 2013

MERRILL (AP) The past six months have not been easy for a now single mother and the six children who lost their father in a drowning accident this summer, but they have taken some small steps toward healing and will honor his memory as a loving family man and a selfless hero.

The wife and children of Kenneth Bryan Coty remember how he took care of his family, and how he died trying to rescue his son.

Coty drowned June 8 while boating on Lake Mitchell, near Cadillac, after he jumped into the rough water to save his 2-year-old son, Walker, now 3. Walker was wearing a life jacket. His father was not.

“I want them to understand it was just a freak accident,” said his widow, Jennifer Coty , noting her husband was a strong swimmer, but a recent arm injury and rough waters may have contributed to his drowning. “We’re not quite sure what happened.”

Ken Coty held the boy up, yelling for his other children on board to help save the 2-year-old, according to Jennifer Coty. The children watched him disappear below the waves as they pulled the toddler from the surf, she said.

Her husband’s body was found five days after the incident, Coty said, and his memorial service was June 18.

In the days filled with grief that followed, a bat bit Coty while while she slept in her bed with one of her children, leading to vaccinations for the entire family, she said.

They moved to a different home in Merrill, and though it has been an emotional move, Coty said the community has been supportive, noting benefits hosted in Merrill and Saginaw.

Despite the terrible loss, the family remembers Coty’s heroic actions.

“My husband died trying to save our son,” Jennifer Coty said.

The couple’s children are also heroes who helped save the family from further devastation that day, she said.

Coty yelled from the water for 9-year-old Madalynn to jump in and save the toddler, Coty said, seconds before her father went under.

Only his second time on the boat, 7-year-old Denver maneuvered the craft to the two children and helped them to safety.

“The way the winds and waves were, there was no way she would have been able to swim back with her little brother in tow,” her mother said.

The kids have been in counseling, and they’re doing “remarkably well, considering what they’ve seen,” their mother said.

Madalynn doesn’t like to talk about the tragedy, Coty said, and Denver has memories of trying to throw a life jacket to his dad that was swept away by the wind. Authorities estimated that winds were between 10 and 27 miles per hour at the time.

Coty’s 5-year-old daughter, Kalah, who was not on the boat, sometimes asks about her dad, Coty said.

His son, Walker, 3, knows when he sees his dad in a picture or when a truck like his drives by, Coty said.

Ken Coty also was the father of Matthew, 19, and Danielle, 15, from a previous marriage.

Through the sadness, the family is working to honor Coty. They returned to the lake for July 4, and the kids went for a ride in the same boat they rode in less than a month before.

They wrote down their favorite things about their father and wrote him messages, sending them into the night sky attached to paper lanterns.

Coty said she now plans to continue with a project that meant a lot to her husband: the restoration of a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro that he had owned for nearly two decades.

Before his death, Coty had the body painted and had new carpet installed, Jennifer Coty said.

“That would be the last thing I would ever get rid of,” Coty said. “It was his favorite thing in the world.”

Coty said her husband planned to sell the car at one time because of some financial issues, but she convinced him to keep the car. Now she wants to see their children ride in it.